An Île-Bizard resident has refused to agree to respect a series of conditions that would have secured his release Wednesday following his arrest while he tried to bring sandbags to a flooded part of the West Island.

Alain Furlano, 54, was arrested Tuesday and made his first appearance before Judge Gabriel De Pokomandy Wednesday afternoon.

A prosecutor was willing to accept that Furlano be released if he agreed to follow a series of conditions. One condition required that he not return to the area in Roxboro-Pierrefonds where he was arrested on Tuesday, and Furlano blurted out that he could not accept it.

He is charged with willfully obstructing a police officer, Mathieu Brassard, in his duties.

Before refusing to follow the condition, Furlano appeared to quote people who claim to be members of the Freemen on the land movement. People who are part of this group feel conventional laws do not apply to them.

“I want to be freed now. I want to help people,” Furlano said, before he ultimately refused to follow one of his conditions.

His bail hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

In another confusing moment during the brief appearance, Furlano insisted that the charge sheet filed in his case be translated from English into ‎French.

The prosecutor in the case appeared baffled and told Furlano, who appeared via a video linkup with a detention centre, that he was informed that Furlano had spoken in English to authorities while he was detained overnight.

In another sign that Furlano might consider himself a member of the Freemen on the land movement, he outright turned down an offer to be represented by a legal aid lawyer. Freemen on the land members often act as their own attorneys in court and will only refer to legislation that dates back centuries.

“I am a man, a human being,” Furlano said in a statement that sounded similar to those made by others involved in the movement.

“They arrested me for helping neighbours. I am a human being,” he said.

Furlano had no hesitation in agreeing with the first few conditions that were read out to him. They were standard conditions attached to such a release, including that the accused keep the peace and be of good behaviour.

Furlano began to object when the conditions applied to the flooded areas of the West Island. For example, one condition required that he not be within an area that included Sources Blvd. to the west, 4th Ave. to the east and Gouin Blvd. to the north.

He objected completely to a condition requiring him to keep away from employees of the Montreal police, Montreal fire department and Canadian Armed Forces while they worked to help people in flooded areas.

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Earlier, Montreal mayor Denis Coderre asked residents in the city’s flood stricken areas to maintain their patience and keep up their morale. But he also told the city’s executive committee Wednesday that anyone who wants to help out in the relief effort needs to go through proper channels before doing so.

“But we’re asking people not to take any personal initiatives. When a state of emergency has been declared, (the city) is there to secure things, to help people and to protect them from themselves.

“It’s not a matter of having extra volunteers. If you want to volunteer, call the Red Cross, which is in direct contact with the emergency command centre. No personal initiatives, no improvisation, there’s work being done.”

Media reported Tuesday that Alain Furlano was arrested in Roxboro for taking a trailer full of sandbags to Gouin Blvd. and 5th Ave. even though police repeatedly told him that the dike he was reinforcing could cause a diversion that could threaten the stability of a nearby rail crossing.

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Coderre reminded the committee there are 250 Canadian Armed Forces personnel deployed in the Montreal relief effort along with 100 firefighters and 125 police officers. The mayor also noted that while water levels were dropping, a weather forecast calling for rain this weekend could slow that process, adding “there are still areas at risk.”

“There’s been a certain calming (of the situation), but that calming isn’t certain. We need to work in a coherent manner.”

On Tuesday, Montreal city council voted to extend its state of emergency to Sunday, allowing city fire chief and civil protection co-ordinator Bruno Lachance the power to close roads, requisition personnel and materiel and order evacuations.

Thus far ,the city has already purchased 300,000 sandbags, and Coderre said he intends to request that army personnel stay on site as long as possible to help with the eventual clean-up of flooded areas.

The executive committee also received a spending report Wednesday showing that so far, more than $900,000 has been spent on sandbags and rain boots as part of the flood control effort.

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